ARRTCon is Back and I Am the Keynote Speaker

Hey I have news. If you live close enough to drive to Naperville, IL you can come see me and LibraryReads Executive Director Rebecca Vnuk, among others, at ARRTCon. 

ARRTCon is on Thursday, November 30th and it is an all-day readers' advisory conference for all library workers. To register, click here or click on the flyer below.

To learn more about the Adult Reading Round Table (on whose Steering Committee both Rebecca and I sat for many years) click here.

My keynote will be a brand new talk where I take actual excuses Robin and I have received, as to why library workers want to be anti-racist in their service to leisure readers in theory, but just can't in practice. Guess what? They still can. I am going to make it fun, but also you will feel uncomfortable. I will call everyone out, and I promise you, each person there will see parts of themselves they may not want to see in such focus, during my keynote. Goodness knows I see myself every time I give these talks.

I am also going to be on a panel that Rebecca is moderating about how to write reviews. 

You don't want to miss this. The day includes breakfast, lunch, 2 keynotes (to start and end the day), a Sourcebooks Book Buzz, and 2 breakout sessions and it is only $100. Full schedule is here.

I hope to see some of you there. 

Library Journal's Romance Genre Preview

Just like I have the July issue cover story in Library Journal for Horror, Romance takes the cover in October. 

This is an excellent article to get you up to speed on the trends and upcoming titles of note in this, one of our most popular genres in libraries. 

Use the subheadings to build displays (of books you already have), for collection development (to make sure you have the hottest upcoming titles on order), and to stay on top of the latest trends and emerging voices.

Adventures in Love | Romance Preview

by Heather Miller
Cover Oct 09, 2023

Romance is a leading-edge genre, driving circulation and making readers happy. This fall, LJ highlights key trends and titles, including the establishment of a new subgenre, romantasy; the invention of a new type of hero, the cinnamon roll; an increasing focus on cozy stories; and a renewed stress on action and adventure.

Offering such a wide range of reading experiences, it’s no surprise then that this already popular genre is attracting even more readers. Dimitrije Curcic at WordsRated, an international research data and analytics group, reports that “sales of romance novels more than doubled over the last two years, making romance among the fastest-growing categories in the publishing world. As for the reasons behind this growth, we have to look at the demographics of romance readers, who are getting increasingly younger. The emergence of #BookTok, along with screen adaptations of some novels, is the driving force behind the emergence of romance over the last couple of years.”

Click here to read the full piece

And see the end of the article for even more romance titles on the way

Browse these collections:

Wishing for Love

Love on Vacation

Road Trip Delights

Historical Encounters

Romantic Mysteries

HEAs So Good They Are Supernatural

Love in Play

Becky's Backlist Gems for the Spooky Season

I was inspired by yesterday's post to dig back into my way back machine of books that I loved from more than 2 years ago, titles no one else is talking about in all of the October suggested reading lists, to give you some under the radar, sure bet suggestions. Please note, not every book would be classified as "Horror," but all are have scary vibes.

Here is the list, 20 titles in no particular order, with links to my longer reviews including readalikes and my "Three Words":

• The Lady from the Black Lagoon by Mallory O'Meara (NF)
• A Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier
• The Devil in Silver by Victor LaValle 
• The Keep by Jennifer Egan (my review is lost but I LOVE THIS BOOK)
• Frankenstein in Baghdad by Ahmed Saadawi
• The Good Thief by Hannah Tint
• Ghost Radio by Leopoldo Gout
• Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
• Breathers: A Zombies Lament by S.G.Browne 
• Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
• The Caretaker of Lorne Field by Dave Zeltserman
• The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker
• Tinfoil Butterfly by Rachel Eve Moulton
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beaks
• Slade House by David Mitchell (One of my favorite Halloween set books)
• Travelers Rest by Keith Lee Morris
• The Seventh Mansion by Maryse Meijer
• Reprieve by  James Han Mattson
• This Things Between Us by Gus Moreno

Books from 10 Years Ago That Aged Well and Badly

I talk a lot about the backlist here on the blog. A summary of those thoughts: the backlist is your best resource because it is where our largest number of titles live. 

I often suggest you use awards long list titles from the past 2-8 years as way to identify backlist options. I do this because those title have been vetted by someone and made a "best list." The problem with just going to any list of popular titles from the past is that they may not have aged well.

Book Riot recently took a look at some of the most popular books from 10 years ago and assessed them with hindsight, identifying those that aged well and those that did not.

This post is proof that there are some AWESOME reads from 10 years ago that can and should be suggested to today's readers. They are great reads and will be "new" to many of your readers. However, this post is also proof that we cannot blindly look at all popular titles from the past and suggest them without doing some work. Good news though, that work is what we do as library workers, and it is where we can show our aprons how helpful we are.

I also want to point out this statement at the end of the post:

Do you remember what you were reading 10 years ago? Would you still read those books? As we inch our way towards 2024, take a look at our rereading archives and see what other rioters have to say about revisiting old faves.

These "rereading" tagged posts are also a great resource and honestly, an antidote to the wave of "best of the year" lists with which we are about to be inundated. It is exhausting and upsetting, to library workers and patrons alike, to see all of the awesome books that came out this year that they will not ever have time to read. It can be overwhelming. Instead of trying to fight the current, a great reading escape can be to re-read older favorites or even check out those backlist titles they never got to back then. The pressure is off now, and those titles can just be enjoyed, without year end pressure. And shouldn't all leisure reading be about the escape and enjoyment anyway?

Me Talking About the Rise in Popularity of Horror and More

Since some libraries are closed today and 31 Days of Horror is a link round-up of other resources work your time, I am cross posting from the Horror blog here today. Enjoy!

31 Days of Horror: Day 9-- Other Resources and Links Roundup

I do have most of the month scheduled with guest posts, but I have also saved a few days to share links from other places with you all. And after the list, say tuned at the bottom for a video treat of me talking about the rise of popularity of Horror courtesy of my publisher. 

1. A resource I have mentioned many times, and even have listed on my permanent Horror Resources Page, Jump Scares: Scary Books for Scary People. Run by Emily Hughes this site contains her Horror Shopping List. You want to know what is coming up, click here (includes archives of past years). Click here to read a guest post by Hughes, from March of 2023, on how the list is compiled as well. And say tuned from some exciting news to start 2024 regarding the resource and me and a podcast. 

2. Goodreads has published their annual Horror coverage:

• 100 New Horror Book Recommendations for (Nearly) Every Kind of Reader: This is a list based on appeal, subgenres, and themes, making it a great resource to use as you are having conversations with readers. All have 2023 copyrights.
• Readers' Top 66 Horror Novels of the Past Three Years: mining their reader data, Goodreads lets us see what readers have mot enjoyed.
• Horror Experts Recommend Terrifying Tomes: as a counter punch to the Reader list, here are expert picks for all ages.

3. The Horror Writers Association's Halloween Haunt blog-a-thon is running for another year. You can use this link to bring up every post in reverse chronological order. But beware, it goes way far back and you could end up down a rabbit hole from which you may never return. But at least that would be on brand. 

4. Neil McRobert of the Talking Scared podcast, also listed on that same Horror Resource Page as Jump Scares, had his list of the best Horror of 2023 go live at the start of the month for Esquire here. You think that's early, the day after it went live, I had my meeting with LJ to finalize our top 10 list as well.

5. Book Riot, a Summer Scares partner, has excellent Horror coverage all year long, but of course they ramp it up during October. Click here for everything in their "Horror" category.

And now, as promised, here is a video of me, recorded by my publisher at ALA Annual in June, talking about why horror is so popular right now.

Using Awards Lists As A RA Tool: Debut Fiction Prizes Edition

This is part of my ongoing series on using Awards Lists as a RA tool. Click here for all posts in the series in reverse chronological order. Click here for the first post which outlines the details how to use awards lists as a RA tool.  

I may be busy with 31 Days of Horror, but I am sill keeping track of awards lists that can help you help readers, and today I have 2 which are both short lists for debut author awards.

Before I get to the specifics, I want to remind you of a few things about prizes for debut authors in particular.

• Debuts are very popular. For example, last year, debuts were up 14% as a category and were the largest sub-category in adult fiction during 2022. (Stats from Publisher's Lunch). 
• Debuts make for excellent book discussion options, especially after the author has a few books, and even more so if further books become hits. Discussing a popular author's first novel is one of my favorite book club experiences because it gives you another layer of discussion.
• The backlist of debut novels from prize lists is ripe for using as a sure bet suggestion on a hard to help reader. They don't know what they want? 2-5 years ago's debut authors who were on prize short lists is an easy book talk. Simply share how this novel rose above all others from that year to be called out and it was a FIRST novel. Read it to see if he hype was worth it. These harder to help patrons often like he challenge of getting a book to check and see if others were "correct" or not. Even when they don't love it, they enjoyed being part of the book world conversation. (See me and last year's debut darling Rabbit Hutch, which I still don't get why everyone loved it but I am glad I read it.)

Of course, these points work in tandem with the general advice I have at the top of this post about awards lists being such a valuable RA  resource. 

Okay so now back to the two reputable debut award short lists I have promised. All of the titles here are worth adding to your collections and suggesting. Make a display of these titles (there are no overlaps) and other books from the same prize's backlist of nominees and call the display "Debuts Worth Discovering." 

And of course, make it interactive and ask your patrons (online or in person) to share their fav debuts. Add those to the display as it empties. You can do tis now, or anytime of year. It is an evergreen display idea. 

Now to the awards.

The Barnes and Noble Discover Prize for the best debut is chosen by the company's booksellers. The current short list is here. You can click here to access previous year's lists, well at least articles about said lists, although B&N does not make it easy. That is mostly because they are in the business of selling the newest books. 

The Center for Fiction's First Novel Prize is here. This one is chosen by a different jury of well known authors each year. Jury members are clearly listed and, hot tip, their debuts are also good to use here. Backlist access is easily accessible if you scroll down on the landing page for the prize. 

Take Action on October 7th and Beyond to Let Freedom Read

It's been Banned Books Week, all week, but I haven't mentioned it.  I know but since I do censorship coverage and news all year long, and because they bumped this event into October, I really didn't have time to write about it this week. Well, except for today. 

I did want to let everyone know that Saturday, October 7, 2023 is Let Freedom Read Day. We should let our patrons know because the day is about action and how they can take it. From the home page for the event:

The freedom to read is under attack — let’s do something about it!

On October 7, 2023, we’re asking everyone to take at least one action to help defend books from censorship and to stand up for the library staff, educators, writers, publishers, and booksellers who make them available! 

Show us how you’re taking action on social media by using the hashtags #LetFreedomReadDay and #BannedBooksWeek!

And don’t forget: Censorship won’t stop just because Banned Books Week does — you can take action any day of the year! Bookmark this page for future reference.

The page also has this link to a one sheet you can handout at the library. And as the literature says, these are any day of the year actions. So promote it this week, but don't stop promoting it. 

You should also check out my ongoing coverage of censorship issues here. I am on the record as saying that Book Riot's Kelly Jensen does he best job covering the issue. Click here for all Book Riot censorship coverage.

Finally, for Banned Books Week, Book Riot and Every Library released the results of this National survey of what parents actually think about Book Bans. Spoiler, they are not fans. 

When you are feeling the heat at your library though, simply remind everyone, yourself included of this: Free People Read Freely. It's really that easy. Free people decide for themselves (or their children) and only themselves, what they read. Full Stop.

What I'm Reading: October 2023 Column in Library Journal

This is a cross post with RA for All Horror.

Yesterday and today, I have been posting access to my draft reviews in the October issues of Library Journal and Booklist. In all I have 12 reviews that are going live this week. Sorry not sorry about exploding your TBR. Today it is my October Library Journal column with 8 titles.

Also, while we are doing this 31 Days thing, don't forget that you can access all of my reviews at any time on the permanent page here.

My Horror Review Column in the October 2023 issue of Library Journal is live. Here, in this post I have gathered the titles with my three words and links to my full draft reviews on Goodreads. Click through for more readalikes and more appeal information.

Since this is post is also part 31 Days of Horror as well, I will also note below which authors will have (or have already had) Why I Love Horror essays, who will has an interview in this issue, and upcoming giveaways. 

Speaking of giveaways, the first of the month is coming tomorrow, and it is actually 2 books, both which have been reviewed by me, and one is a finished copy. 

In the meantime, you have now been alerted to 12 tittles over the las 2 days that you need to get ordered for your collections. 

Now the 8 October 2023 reviews:

First this month's STARS:

• This Wretched Valley by Jenny Kiefer [Survival Horror, unrelenting tension, rock climbing frame]
• I will post my interview with Kiefer and offer a giveaway of this exception debt on 10/26.
• A Light Most Hateful by Hailey Piper [thought provoking, Weird, small town horror]
• I will be having a giveaway of my ARC tomorrow
• Here is Hailey Piper's Why I Love Horror essay from 2021

And the other 6 excellent titles:

• Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase [strong world building, compressed time frame, psychological horror]
• Where the Dead Wait by Ally Wilkes [Historical Horror, oppressive dread, strong sense of place]
• Your Shadow Half Remains by Sunny Moraine ["horrifyingly banal," multiple layers of discomfort, engaging narration]
• Why I Love Horror essay coming from Moraine on 10/25
• Midnight On Beacon Street by Emily Ruth Verona [Cinematic, Shifting Time Frame, Anxiety]
• Why I Love Horror essay coming from Verona on 10/7
• Edenville by Sam Rebelein [Cosmic Horror, Sardonic Tone, Folk Horror]
• Why I Love Horror essay coming from Rebelein on 10/8
• The House of Last Resort by Christopher Golden [Haunted House, family secrets, immersive world building]

What I'm Reading: 4 Booklist Reviews

This is a cross post with RA for All Horror.

Over the next two days, I will be posting access to my draft reviews in the October issues of Library Journal and Booklist. In all I have 12 reviews that are going live this week. Sorry not sorry about exploding your TBR. I begin today with Booklist and my draft reviews with bonus appeal information.

Also, while we are doing this 31 Days thing, don't forget that you can access all of my reviews at any time on the permanent page here.

I will begin with the two stars. 

STAR 

Christmas and Other Horrors: An Anthology of Solstice Horror

Edited by Ellen DatlowOct. 2023. 448p. illus. Titan, $27.99 (9781803363264). REVIEW. First published October 1, 2023 (Booklist).

Datlow, the most award winning editor in speculative fiction, comes through once again, with an anthology of 18, original stories by some of the biggest names in Horror today. The contributors were asked to add their voice to the human tradition of telling ghost stories during the darkest days of the year. The resulting range of scares is as wide as the topics considered. From a gory tale of Austrian folklore to open the book by Christopher Golden, to Cassandra Khaw’s defiant stand against the world, to the existential dread and wood demons of Josh Malerman’s Finnish solstice rituals, and even a few hot and bright, Australian set nightmares, there is something here for every reader. However, it is the gut punch of Tananarive Due and Stepen Graham Jones’ stories which tower above the rest and cannot be missed. The inclusion of a note by each author at the end of each story and the creepy illustrations at the start of each tale, both enhance the reading experience. Pair it with Hark! The Herald Angels Scream, edited by Golden to spice up your Winter Holiday themed displays for years to come.

Further appeal: This is a holiday anthology that completely embraces the spirit of the season without being Christmas focused. Most of the series's are set around Dec 20- early January. I really did love the multiple southern hemisphere set stories as a northerner. So cool to have hot holiday stories. 

The TOC is diverse in every way from identity of writers to how they write to what themes are explored. Every story was solicited by Datlow and they are ALL original to this anthology. It features some of the best and most popular Horror authors right now and will be in high demand by fans of hose authors and those looking for a different type of holiday season read.

I cannot get Due or Graham Jones' stories out of my head. Due's story in particular is set in the world of the story she wrote for Other Terrors and in her story notes, she hints that these characters need a novel (!!!). Graham Jones' story is perfect for fans of The Babysitter Lives. 

I am very tough on Datlow edited anthologies and do not give them all a star, but this one is worth all the stars. It will be a library holiday season and Halloween staple for years to come. 

Three Words That Describe This Book: Holidays, All Original Stories, Range of Scares

Readalikes: Every person in the TOC, you can suggest their books. Golden's Road of Bones specifically, is an excellent winter set story. The link above goes to my review of the other holiday anthology.

Also, see this post by me about the tradition of reading Horror during the Winter Solstice.

STAR

Under Her Eye: A Women In Horror Poetry Collection Volume 2

Edited by Lindy Ryan and Lee MurrayNov. 2023. 200p. Black Spot, paper, $14.95 (9781645481379); e-book (9781645481386). REVIEW. First published October 1, 2023 (Booklist).

Horror poetry is having a moment. Readers are discovering the format as their go-to place to elicit the dark emotions of the genre that they crave. With its brevity and free form style, poetry twists words in ways that viscerally amplify the terror. Award winning editors, Ryan and Murray, have taken the unease up another notch by inviting 112 poets, all women and nonbinary femmes, to contribute a poem focused on domestic violence, Horror in what should be the safest spaces. The individual poems are brutally honest and poignant. Ranging in length, style and topic, each gives readers more than they expect, over and over again. Three standouts are by Ali Jiang, EF Schrader, and Emily Ruth Verona, whose “Prime Real Estate Opportunity,” uses footnotes to chilling perfection. The volume benefits the Pixel Project, a global non-profit whose mission is to raise awareness for the cause to end violence against women. They have provided a list of resources in the back of the book which raises its stakes from merely providing a good read to offering a lifeline and hope to those suffering in silence. Consider shelving a copy in the 300s and one in your Horror collections. 

Further Appeal: This book is hard to read, but that is the point. It is shining a light on domestic abuse to make people pay attention. You also need to have this book In your collections because of the resources provided b y Pixel Project-- worldwide contacting. Having this book on your shelves could literally save someone's life. Get it with other resources for those suffering from domestic abuse. Don't hide it in poetry. And don't tell me you can't change where it is selves, that all poetry goes with poetry, because that is a self imposed rule, one that does a disservice to why someone would read this book, that says you don't care about helping someone save their own life. Yes, I am being overly dramatic, but it is to show you how dumb this argument is. You will not go to library jail if you make a cataloging choice that is not the automatic default. Trust me, I have been doing this for years at the school library and it has had amazing results-- and no one has been fired or sent to library jail, rather he opposite, the kids and teachers are finding books easier.

Three Words That Describe This Book: visceral, poignant, brutally honest

Readalikes: Tomorrow, I will have a review of Emily Ruth Verona's debut novel, so keep an eye out for that. The TOC will direct you to many women Horror writers who have stories and novels as well as poetry. This anthology can be used by you, the library worker, to help readers find more horror poetry as well.

But specifically, Into the Forest and All the Way Through, a collection of true crime poetry about missing women by Cynthia Pelayo is hard to read, but a perfect readlaikes.

Please also check out the work of editors Lindy Ryan and Lee Murray who I wrote about in this article about the best horror anthologists for The Lineup.

I reviewed the first book in this series here.

The Daughters of Block Island

By Christa Carmen

Oct. 2023. 332p. Amazon/Thomas & Mercer, paper, $16.99 (9781662512988); e-book (9781662512971). REVIEW. First published October 1, 2023 (Booklist).

Blake heads to Block Island, 14 miles off Rhode Island, to confront her birth mother. Arriving in a winter rainstorm, she heads to a haunted mansion, now a Bed and Breakfast, where she sets out to untangle the complicated history of her family. Blake feels like the heroine in a Gothic novel, that is, until she is murdered, but not before she got a letter off to the sister she never knew. A few weeks later, Thalia returns to Block Island, the home she left behind ten years ago, to finish what the sister she never met started. However, whoever silenced Blake will stop at nothing to keep the secrets of the island and its generations of sisters quiet. Told in two parts, from Blake’s and Thalia’s perspectives, no one is safe in this compelling and atmospheric thriller that pays homage to classic Gothic novels while still adding something fresh to the beloved genre. An easy sell to fans of the Brontes but also, those who enjoy the creepy, psychological suspense of Simone St. James or Gwendolyn Kiste's LAMBDA award-winning Reluctant Immortals.

Further Appeal: This is a classic Gothic fiction fan's dream of a book. It is consciously a book about books and a book about storytelling itself. Everything Gothic is perfectly rendered. It is Rebecca dialed up to 10. 

Other themes explored, family secrets (so many both secrets and families interconnected in those secrets), addiction issues, lesbian MC. The setting is the biggest character: the island, the weather, the house, its place on a cliff, all the other buildings. Carmen double down on the atmosphere and it shows; it enhances the reading experience. 

The novel also has some modern psychological suspense twists that work very well with the Classic Gothic frame.

This book will have wide appeal to a huge swath of library patrons.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Gothic, Psychological Suspense, Atmospheric

Readalikes: Of course the dozens of books mentioned in the book-- the classic Gothic titles. Jennifer McMahon is another good option here. I would not suggest to every fan of Mexican Gothic or The Hacienda though, because those have supernatural monsters at the center of the story; this does not.

I would like to note, I called out Carmen's story in Orphans of Bliss: Tales of Addiction Horror edited by Mark Matthews as amazing. I said it would be on year end best lists, and I was correct. It was nominate for a Stoker this past year. This is Carmen's first novel, an it is with Amazon so it will have wide distribution. You need to be aware of it.

Speaking of her publisher, she is joining Zoje Stage who I would also list as a readalike, especially Mothered, which I reviewed here.

Root Rot & Other Grim Tales

By Sarah Read Oct. 2023. 300p. Bad Hand, paper, $15.99 (9798988128625). REVIEW. First published October 1, 2023 (Booklist). 

Bram Stoker Award winner Read returns with a collection that more than lives up to its promise of providing “grim tales,” 18 stories that use both fairy tale frames of yore like dark woods and wishes granted and familiar tropes from science fiction and fantasy such as parallel worlds or an uninhabitable NYC. Each story is original, terrifying, and compelling but when Read pits what readers think is coming against the extremely sinister tone at the heart of each tale, it is as if she is stabbing their tender spots* with a knife, twisting it, and leaving it to dangle long after the last page is turned. Two of the best examples are “Root Rot,” which presents the Tooth Fairy in her full body horror glory and “Terror Bay Resort '' set in the 26th Century, in a heated Arctic, at the Franklin Expedition museum. Suggest freely to those who enjoy dark, immersive, and character driven speculative fiction that firmly grabs its readers as written by Cynthia Pelayo, Cassandra Khaw, and Lauren Beukes.

Further Appeal: That asterisk above was a note to my editor which asked her to keep the phrase "tender spots" because the visceral image it invokes is a great reflection of the tone of many of the stories.

I really enjoyed how half the book is nostalgic, fairy tales of yore esque and then the second half is terrors of the world to come, grim tales for the future. But, I wish there was a break in the book to denote that, a way for the reader to know the switch is coming. 

The title story is A LOT in a very good way. "Wish Wash" was one of my favorites in the Shirley Jackson Award winning Anthology, The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors.

Sinister is the key word here. In fact, you could describe this book in 1 word it is sinister. Even the settings are sinister, especially the future ones, such as an uninhabitable NYC overtaken by sky whales, or a melting arctic where the Franklin expedition's lost ship is now visible and a tourist site. The illustrations enhance the sinister tone. And that cover! It will draw readers to the book without you having to say a thing.

Some of the stories here are are among the best I have read this year. Read, a librarian as well as an award winning and talented writer, is someone you need to be aware of. Order this collection from the award winning small press.

Three Words That Describe This Book: Sinister, discomfort, immersive 

Readalikes: The three authors above have lots of options and all capture the tone and imagination of Read's work. The aforementioned anthologies, The Hideous Book of Hidden Horrors, edited by Doug Murano is a good readalike here. Actually all anthologies edited by Murano are a good choice here.

Also Read's debut, The Bone Weaver's Orchard, which won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a First Novel is a great read. 

31 Days of Horror Began Yesterday

For the first few days of RA for All: Horror's 31 Day blog-a-thon, I will be cross posting on both blogs. 

The 12th year of the event began yesterday, Sunday October 1 with this post (also cross posted below). Over the next two days,  I will be posting my 12 (!) reviews that went live on the October issues of both Booklist and Library Journal. However, after today, you have to head over to the Horror blog yourself to check for all of the great content-- like today's post featuring Sadie Hartmann.

And as I mentioned Friday, bear with me this month. Not only do I have 2 blogs to run with original content every day, but it is also conference season and I will be traveling to 2 in person library conferences as well as a plethora of scheduled virtual appearances, both Horror and general RA related. 

However, it is my goal for the blogs that you will not notice how busy I am, here at least. I know from experience, that even with all my planning, something will fall through the cracks, 

Let's do this!

💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀

31 Days of Horror: Day 1-- Let's Explore the Scariest Genre Together for the 12th Year in a Row

Each year 31 Days of Horror grows in readership. While some of you are here all year long, even when this blog is limited to my weekly #HorrorForLibraries giveaways, each year I get many new people joining in on the spooky blog-a-thon fun.

First things first, if you have never encountered 31 Days of Horror before well, I have been doing this event since 2011. That means we will top 400 posts that use the 31 Days of Horror tag this year. 

[Side note, it all began inauspiciously with this post. Nothing special, just a basic post about  the appeal of Horror, but 12 years of content started with that one post. Very humbling.]

The entire idea of 31 Days of Horror, began as a way to help library workers during the time of year when they need the most help with Horror. However, I did not want this series to become a list of lists either. 

From that desire to give you something original and useful was born a concurrent series entitled Why I Love Horror. In this series, that runs mostly, but not only, during October, I reach out to people in the Horror world and invite them to contribute essays written for you-- the general library worker. These invited people are told to share why they love horror as a creator and fan in 1500 words or less. Once again,  I have quite an exciting lineup planned.

My goal with the "Why I Love Horror" series is to expose you to people you should know about AND give you even more context for appeal. I can give you all the examples in the world of why people enjoy feeling scared when they read, but until you hear from actual fans, fans who also create Horror, it is hard to understand, especially for the vast majority of you who don't enjoy Horror for yourselves. 

Over the years I have had many people contribute to the Why I Love Horror series from up and comers [some of whom have gone on to become big names] to firmly established authors to folks who love horror in the library world. 

You can click here to see them all. "Why I Love Horror" is also a searchable tag any time, just like 31 Days of Horror.

"Why I Love Horror" is an excellent resource to help you help readers, and it is a Horror RA resource you cannot find anywhere else. However, it is not the only way you can use this blog as a resource now and all year long.

In the past few years, I also started another new series within his 31 day series, and that was to feature a small Horror press. While, this year I do have a few posts by small press authors and one specific small press post coming on 10/11, I switched tactics this year and waned to offer something new. Instead of featuring a press, I am going to feature the clients of agent, Becky LeJeune, who I met over the last two StokerCons. She has many authors whose books I have reviewed and others you should know about. Eight of her clients and Becky herself, will be sharing "Why I Love Horror" with all of you. That feature will run from 10/15-22 and will feature 6 giveaways! 

However, let's not get too ahead of ourselves on Day 1. Remember, this blog is not just about my October content. It stands as a resource on Horror, both as a free update to my book, and as the most comprehensive resource for working with Horror readers in libraries all year long.

I have more than tags for you to use to access content. If you look in the right gutter of the blog, under the cover of my book, there is a list of pages you can find on here. That list is on EVERY page, so you don't have to worry about a huge link tree to find them. Access is easy, intuitive, and FREE

The pages with their direct links are:

• Summer Scares Resources and FAQ
• Third Edition Bonus Content: More Subgenre Annotations
• Horror Resources 
• Best Independent Horror Publishers for Libraries
• Horror Awards
• Archive of Becky's Lists Articles and Presentations
• Summer Scares Archive [direct link but it is also on the FAQ page linked above]
• Horror Reviews Index

In the spirit of being THE Horror for Libraries resource, I make sure each page lists the last time it was updated in the title. I curate all of this information and stand behind it.

So while this October you may be more focused on my 31 Days of Horror daily posts and Why I love Horror content, please know those pages with links are there all year long to help you find, display, and promote horror.

This blog should be the first place you go for all of your Horror RA, Collection Development, and Programming needs. I get no extra money from you visiting here. I keep this blog up for me as much as all of you. It is a record of all of the information I am using to stay up to date too. However, if you want to support my efforts to keep doing this work for a 13th year, please consider buying a copy of my book for your library and/or hiring me to train your library staff on a variety of topics. 

So poke around the site today, later this month, in a few months, whenever you need it. We will have a lot of fun for the rest of October, but  just remember, I am always here for all of your Horror for Libraries needs

And remember.... your Horror loving patrons are not monsters; they just like to read about them.

Let me hold your hand as we explore the scariest genre together.

Finally, thanks to everyone who makes this 31 day marathon worth it. From the invited contributors to those offering books for giveaway, yes, but most of all, to you, my readers, who are working hard to help all of your readers, day after day, despite the current climate of challenges and bomb threats. Truly, thank you.

Let's do this. 31 Days of Horror: 2023